Long Form

Long Form Journalism by the Bhekisisa Team

An eighth-grade teenager shows how funky and strong her fight against a four-letter word is.

Bianca learns to Beat It

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An eighth-grade teenager shows how funky and strong her fight against a four-letter word is. Mia Malan reports.
Charity Petelo has been looking after her son since his diagnoses with schizophrenia 14 years ago.

‘The people told me they are coming to take me away tonight’

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Where traditional beliefs are more real than textbooks, treating mental illness is a balancing act for sangomas and medical doctors alike.

Life on a hotter earth: Depression, drought & decolonising mental health

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As the climate crisis worsens, arid parts of South Africa are expected to get even hotter and even more water-scarce. In Australia, drought’s taken...
The Gauteng government has three months to pay families affected by the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

Gauteng mental health services: ‘They treated him like you don’t even treat a dog’

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A decision by the Gauteng department of health has left at least 36 dead but has the scandal lifted the lid on the horrors of mental healthcare?
Inside the 'dead zone': In an outdoor laboratory at Texas' Sam Houston State University

Afraid of death? Take comfort that you’ll live on in varied and surprising ways

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Most of us would rather not know what happens to our bodies after death. But that breakdown gives birth to new life in unexpected ways.

Why COVID school closures are making girls marry early

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The pandemic’s impact is long-term: the UN warns that it could lead to 13 million more child marriages over a decade.
A pack-a-day smoking habit during pregnancy will reduce a baby's birth weight by an average of 230g

‘I saw the world through the blurry lens of an oxygen tent’

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With the severe effects of the habit on the unborn child now widely known, why do pregnant mothers refuse to give up?
Young girls like those at Indupa Primary School near Kajiado face female circumcision.

​Women of the Maasai fight back for their daughters

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Girls as young as 10 feel the blade but an extraordinary group is fighting against female genital mutilation (FGM).
A girl living with albinism has her eyes tested. A new regional plan by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights calls for the affordable provision of eye care and sunscreen to people living with the condition.

Waiting to disappear: The danger of being too pale

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Ikponwosa Ero went from a child who felt different to the United Nations’ first independent expert on albinism.
Despite concerns about the drug

Why science could finally be close to solving this birth control riddle

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We could be just months away from knowing whether Depo-Provera use is linked to a higher risk of HIV infection in women.
High-priced technology puts a price tag on life.

This disposable piece of technology might save your life – if you can afford...

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Many diabetics are dependent on expensive blood sugar testing strips to stay alive. Most in South Africa can't afford it.
Many women mistakenly believe that mastectomy is the only or the safest way of dealing with their cancer.

‘Cancer I could deal with. Losing my breast I could not.’

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For those with breast cancer, a mastectomy may seem like the best option. But Joanna Moorhead is glad she chose less extensive surgery.
Shattered dreams: A tradition called ukuthwala sees girls as young as 13 years forced into marriages with older men.

Is today’s ukuthwala a perversion of an earlier tradition?

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The kidnapping of young girls ignores the 'niceties' of a cultural practice.
Nigeria’s maternal mortality is high. But if mothers such as Oluwakemi Junaid won’t go to hospital

Old birth rites, new ways

When bringing a new life into the world risks taking another, even old traditions have to adopt new ways.
Rachel Daniel

‘I was married to a Boko Haram’: What happens when a victim returns to...

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Eighty two of the Chibok school girls, kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria three years ago, have been released. But what now?
Dr Llewellyn Volmink grew up in the township of Nkqubela in Robertson and is now a medical doctor working in the local hospital.

The rural doctor who came home to serve his people in their own language

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This doctor returned to his home town to live, love and heal.